The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1887-01-01
washington News and Gossip.
From our Special Correspondent.

WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. 81, 'SG.
mr.. EDIToR:-Tho recent appointment
of woman as clerk of tie House Commit
tee on the Library, is an innovation against
which there is some complaint in the ranks
of the army of candidates for the position,
but the woman suffragists are iubilent, and
consider that they have gained point
without the aid Of the ballot. Until the
present time woman clerks have been en-
ployed in the departments only, and with
the exception OF one on Two who naye filed
pcaitiors as telegraph operators in the cor
ridors of the Capitol, they haye not been
tolerated under The immediate shadow of
Goddess of Liberty.
A recent report of the Committee on
Ventilation and Acoustics in the House, in
which they recommend the daily cleansing
of the ventiIating pipes, will perhaps not
tend to materially strengthen the opinion
entertained by some as to the dignity sup
posed to attend tha meetings of SO august
body "a the House of Representatives
In its report the committee says: "The
great American habit OF eXpectorating is
fully eXempliied on the part of the mem
bers of this branch of the lawmaking de-
partment of our government, ndyour com
mittee reluctantly, mournfully, but firmly
confesses its inability TO devise I-.easures
which will put an ecd to this repteheI sible
practice-a practice that lowers The dignity
of this august assembly and inperils the
health and well being OF the servants Of
the Republic. Attention is directed to the
fact that there are in this chamber two
hundred and sixteen nickel-plated cuspi-
dors. furnished by the muniiceuce oS the
nation with the sole design Of being en-
ployed for the purposes fer which they are
provided, but for some reason unknown to
your committee they are ignored, aud the
perforations in the brass yentilatOrS en-
ployed as the receptacles Of eXpectoration.
Mr.. Goldsborough BruI, Of this city, who
is now in his eighty-third year, and is one
of the oldest employees in the government
| service, having been engaged a5 designer
and craftsman in the Treasury Department
during the past sixty-three years, has ad-
dressed to Congress an elaborate memorial
upon the subject of a national coat of arms.
Mr.. Brutf says that in the period of our
country's infancy the art of heraldry was
unknown, and in consequence the new
Republic was unable to obtain proper de-
vice for its national signet. He proposes a
"device of an armorial achievement and
reverse of great seal for the United States
in Congress assembled, as follows: Arms
Paleways of thirteen pieces, argent and
gules, chief, azure, the escutchcon on the
breast of the American bald eagle displayed
proper, holding in his dexter talon an olive
branch, and in his sinister a bundle of
thirteen arrows, all proper, and in his beal
a scroll inscribed with this motto, e pluri-
bus unum. For the cTcst-Over the head
of the eagle which appears above the
escutcheOn a glory or breaking through
a cloud, proper, and surrounding thirteen
stars forming a constellation argent on an
azure field" His communication has been
referred to the committee on library
a few days before Christmas the District
Commissioners received a letter, written
by little girl in Missouri. The letter was
addressed to the "Mair," and in 1t she en-
quired in uncertain and badly-spelled
English why it was that her father, who
served through the war, could not get a
pension when so many others could. She
stated that her father was sick and too
poor to employ lawyer. The letter was
forwarded to the Commissioner of Pensions
who ordered a special investigation of the
/ case, and on Wednesday last the Commits
sioner notified the little lady by mail that
her fathers pension had been granted, with
a full allowance of back pay. The letter
was probably received on Christmas eve,
and there was at least one joyful household
in Missouri upon Christmas day. ii.